"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"
Hearing Ron's words, Hagrid waved his hands repeatedly, insisting there was no way it could be true.
"Snape's a Professor at Hogwarts! How could he do such a thing?"
He exclaimed loudly as he opened the door to his hut, ushering Lucien and the others inside to warm up.
Seeing that Hagrid didn't believe Ron, Hermione quickly added,
"But we really saw him! Snape kept staring at Harry, and his mouth was constantly moving—he was clearly chanting a spell!"
"Hagrid, I read in a book that to cast a Dark Arts curse, you have to maintain eye contact with your target, and Snape fit that description exactly!"
Even hearing this from the serious and studious Hermione, Hagrid only looked more exasperated and shrugged helplessly.
"Then tell me—why would Snape target Harry?"
That question immediately silenced everyone.
After a long pause, Harry adjusted his glasses and said awkwardly,
"Well… at the start of term, Snape really did seem to have it out for me, but later…"
As he spoke, Harry glanced at Lucien. Ever since taking Lucien's advice to remove his glasses in Potions class after drinking the Bright Eyes Potion...
Harry felt that Snape's attitude toward him had completely changed.
At first, he couldn't escape Snape's sarcasm and sharp tongue.
But later on, Snape only questioned him frequently in class.
After studying Potions with Lucien, Harry's progress had been rapid—he could now answer most of Snape's questions with ease.
"Ahem, well… in class, it's fine. But when I'm walking around the Castle and run into Snape, he, uh…"
"His gaze toward me is always very, very strange."
"And outside of class, he keeps finding excuses to deduct points from me."
Lucien took a sip of the mead Hagrid had poured and muttered to himself,
Of course he does. Aside from your eyes and talent for Potions, which you got from your mother, everything else—your looks, your demeanor—is exactly like your father.
And outside of Potions class, Harry still wore his glasses, which not only hid those eyes Snape admired but also reminded him of James Potter—
The man who had humiliated him and stolen Lily.
If Snape wasn't taking points from Harry, who else would he take them from?
Oh no, he deducted points equally from every House—except Slytherin.
Hmm, though he never deducted points from me.
Lucien looked at Harry, and a rather peculiar idea suddenly came to mind.
If he could invent a Potion or spell that changed gender, have Harry use it, then dye his hair Weasley-red and remove his glasses...
Heh, he wondered if Snape could handle that.
Perhaps because of the changes Lucien brought, Snape's hostility toward Harry wasn't as harsh anymore.
And while Harry and the others still suspected Snape, their doubts weren't that deep.
"Oh, even putting this Quidditch match aside, a lot has been happening at school lately," Ron said.
"The Troll on Halloween night—how could a creature like that get into the Castle?"
"Not just that," Hermione added quickly, "besides the Troll, there's also that huge dog with three heads in one of the rooms!"
"Ron, didn't I tell you it's called Cerberus?"
Hearing their chatter, Hagrid's eyes widened in surprise.
"How do you know about Fluffy?"
Except for Lucien, who was calmly sipping his tea, Harry and the other two turned to Hagrid and asked in unison,
"Fluffy?"
"Uh, that's— that's my pet."
Hagrid scratched his messy hair and mumbled,
"I bought him from a Greek fella. He's a very cute little thing. Dumbledore borrowed him to guard—"
"Cute?! That dog nearly bit off Harry's hand—"
Harry quickly threw an arm around Ron and clamped a hand over his mouth.
Only the three of them, plus Lucien, knew about that incident, and Harry didn't want anyone else to find out about it.
"What! Harry, how— let me see!"
Hagrid slammed his enormous teacup onto the table and anxiously grabbed Harry's arm, rolling up his sleeve to inspect it.
"Oh dear, why didn't you say so earlier? Cerberus fangs carry Dark Magic curses!"
"Fluffy's still a youngster, so it's easy for him to hurt someone by accident. I'd better speak to Dumbledore about this, even if it's between him and Nicolas Flame—"
Halfway through, Hagrid realized he'd said too much and hurriedly clamped his mouth shut.
After checking both of Harry's arms—thin and slender—Hagrid found no wounds or scars at all.
He sat back down, scratching his head in confusion.
"Strange. He's perfectly fine. Dumbledore even asked me earlier if you were hurt, Harry. He didn't say why, but this…"
No one answered him. Hagrid looked up and noticed that the young wizards were all staring at him differently.
Harry felt embarrassed; it was clear now that Headmaster Dumbledore already knew about the incident with Cerberus.
Ron nibbled carefully on a rock cake, listening with a dazed, innocent expression.
Hermione opened her mouth, wanting to speak, but after hesitating for a few seconds, stayed silent.
Lucien only smiled faintly.
Hagrid must have grown up drinking Veritaserum.
You could entrust your life to him—but never a secret.
Come to think of it, Dumbledore probably assigned this task to Hagrid on purpose, just so he'd accidentally leak information to Harry and the others, didn't he?
Old Dumbledore—always so precise in his calculations.
"Hagrid, who is Nicolas Flamel?"
Finally, Hermione couldn't resist her curiosity and asked directly. Harry and Ron also turned to look at Hagrid together.
"No, nothing— that's top secret. Secret, understand?"
Hagrid lifted his oversized teacup and took a huge gulp of tea, trying to hide his unease.
No matter how Harry and the others pressed him afterward, Hagrid only responded with nods or shakes of his head, refusing to say another word.
After a while of going back and forth, the three young students finally gave up and decided to leave.
They were already eager to uncover the truth!
Lucien watched them go, a faint smile curling at the corners of his lips.
Good—one step closer to the Philosopher's Stone.
By the time they actually learned what the Philosopher's Stone was, it would likely be after Christmas.
Then, he could find an opportunity to mention it to Dumbledore and see if he could get early access to it.
Lucien stayed behind to chat with Hagrid for a while, and this time, Hagrid finally opened up a little.
After leaving the hut, Lucien didn't return to the Castle.
Instead, he took a detour and headed toward the Forbidden Forest.
"Lumen."
The cute Qilin appeared beside him in a shimmer of light.
Lucien gently stroked the thickening mane along Lumen's shoulder and neck and said softly,
"Take me to see Seleneia. The Unicorn should be due in about two months."
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